There's nothing as exciting as peace. As weird as that sounds, it's true! When I have peace in God, life becomes so much more. I feel confident, powerful, happy, and you feel on fire for God.
When I was working at Life Action this summer, I had a very tough schedule. I was assigned to dish pit for two weeks. It was two weeks of cleaning dishes; that's all. I had to work three meals per day, maybe four if I had to work the snack late at night. I worked an average of 8-9 hours in the hot, humid kitchen of Life Action. I only got one day off per week, but usually spent that day working as well because I would get bored. I fell asleep usually around 11:30 pm and woke up at 7:15-7:30 am. How did I work under such hard circumstances at the young age of 15?
My quiet times motivated me. In dish pit, you get three hours off between meals, and you had this time period three-four times per day. I usually spent two of these time periods simply reading my Bible, listening to my iPod, praying, and reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. In these time where I talked to God, I would get so fired up for Jesus and so motivated to be a very hard worker. It was as if I couldn't stop working! I would work, read my Bible, hang with friends, eat, then repeat the process. Often, I would get my food, then retreat to a corner to continue reading. I read the Corinthians to the Proverbs to the Psalms to Matthew to the small letters from Paul. I listened to music from Addison Road to Me in Motion to Group 1 Crew to Hillsong to MercyMe to Family Force 5 to FM Static to Switchfoot to Thousand Foot Krutch.
It was as if God's strength was pumping into my body and spirit! When close to God, I can face anything. I can work like never before and set the tone for my co-workers, who were ages 14-17 and from across the country. The year before, I was immature, crude, perverted, disrespectful, and mean. I learned that many teens were apprehensive about me returning. During the Friday night service, many people stood to share testimonies or what God had taught them. I stood and faced 150 people and admitted I was a jerk last year and had chosen to strive for integrity, dedication, and love for God this past year and this summer. Afterwards, I had several teens come up and confess they were scared I was coming, but got to know me and really liked me! It was so cool! I had chosen to take the road less traveled by, and God rewarded me for it. I tried to be funny, sarcastic, mean, and disrespectful because I thought it would earn my popularity and respect. It turns out that living for God and obeying His commands and working very hard and reading your Bible will earn you eons more respect and popularity than being a little rebel will! How cool is that? Thanks God for the remodel you did on me this past year!
So it all comes back to peace in God. If you have peace in God, you are free from the entanglements of life to focus solely on God. Your focus becomes only Him. Find peace in God.
3 comments:
Praise God for what He is doing in you life!That is so awesome.
I have worked at a christian camp doing dishes as well. Its one of those jobs that is very humbling as well as tedious and long. It can also be hard depending on who you work with. The first year that I worked as a dishwasher I had to work with 2 guys who were immature and liked to take advantage of me by making me do most of the work. I have to say that that was a week that I will never forget because I learned so much!
Praise the Lord. Been in a similar situation working at a special needs camp. There were a few days I really wanted to have a break-down but just being in God's Word and talking to Him is so strengthening. Thank goodness that God realizes our weakness and is available to give us a dose His strength when we need it.
Thanks!! Now I love to wash dishes. It comes naturally. I was very fast, very efficient, and knew the most about the job. I had three other guys assigned to dish pit, but it was usually only three per meal so one could have a break. I got only one break the whole two weeks. I also started a craze where the dirty hands people (the four guys) would sing Give Us Clean Hands. Clean Hands are what we call the people with clean hands who pull the dishes out of the dish washer and put them on the shelf to dry. I love camp :)
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